Thomasville Center for the Arts

Aviary Perceptions

Joe Cowdrey 

July 16 – October 9
Grassroots | 118 S. Broad Street
Hours:  Monday – Friday | 6:30-10
Saturdays | 7:30-10

Featured Image:  Joe Cowdrey | Symphony of Gold

About WALL SPACE:
Designed intentionally to bring emerging, contemporary artists and designers into a community space, this program allows the community to be exposed to a rotating body of new work.  Thoughtful making and creative exchange are at the heart of WALL SPACE programming.  The curated pop-up exhibits inhabit the walls of Grassroots Coffee Company, where they can be exposed to 60,000 + patrons.  The installations are transitionary, separated from a formal gallery space, and exposed to a diverse audience.  This unique setting allows artists to test ideas, initiate community exchange, and develop professional practices. Thomasville Center for the Arts works to support emerging artists with an opportunity to develop both their art practice and professional goals.

From the Artist:
“In this series of work, my initial idea was to do a series of bird portraits and bird-related pieces. Birds have always been a huge fascination for me, and an endless source of inspiration. My goal with each piece was to capture the bird from its own perspective. This was a way for me to go a little further, and make things a bit more interesting than simply painting the likeness of an individual bird.

As the series unfolded, I realized that the settings, actions of the birds, and moods conveyed by the color pallet were mirroring my own emotions and feelings at the time each piece was created. Although beginning as a representation of a bird, plant, or landscape, these pictures became self-portraits in a way: projections of my own feelings onto the canvas, and into whatever scene I had decided to paint. As I progressed, I became more and more attracted to the idea of reproducing a mood and feeling, verses accurately depicting the species of bird. Even so, I did get very meticulous about specific details of the birds and landscapes that caught my inspiration.”

– Joe Cowdrey